Bidspirit auction | Kuntres Drushos from the rDerashos

Kuntres Drushos from the rDerashos from the Gaon R’ Yitzchok Bernays of Hamburg — Rav Muvhak of R’ Shamshon Raphael Hirsch--Unpublished! An autograph manuscript, filled with derashos penned at different times, written in the distinct style and lashon of one of the towering gedolim of Ashkenaz: R’ Yitzchok Bernays, Av Beis Din of Hamburg — widely known as Chacham Bernays. R’ Yitzchok Bernays (1792–1849) was a gaon muflag and a crown of German Jewry. It is told that by the age of seven he knew Maseches Bava Kamma by heart, and as a youth he stood for a bechinah before the gadol hador R’ Nosson Hirsch Berlin, Baal Atzei Almogim, who honored him with the title chaver. In his youth he learned under R’ Avraham Bing in Würzburg, where he was a contemporary of the Aruch LaNer. In 1821 he was appointed Rav of Hamburg, from where he waged a firm and public battle against the maskilim and the early reformers — most notably over the “German siddur” they sought to introduce. He published proclamations throughout the city and its surroundings opposing the move. Upon his petirah, he was eulogized by his close friend the Aruch LaNer. His most famous talmid was R’ Shamshon Raphael Hirsch , who cites his teachings in his peirush on Tehillim. It is well known that Hirsch absorbed much of his rebbe’s derech in derush, lashon, and presentation — and even inherited part of his seforim. The Mesorah of Derush — From Bernays to Hirsch Anyone familiar with the literary style of R’ Hirsch will immediately recognize, in these pages, the earlier voice of his rebbe. One can clearly see here the source of Hirsch’s rich, precise, and elevated style in derush and machshavah (see Otzar HaTorah, New York 1926, p. 100). What lies before us are previously unknown chiddushim from R’ Yitzchok Bernays. To the best of our knowledge, no Torah writings of his have ever been printed. A rare glimpse into the Torah world of one of the great arzey halevanon of Ashkenaz!